Outsourced Federal Prosecutors put justice in jeopardy

Posted by Anna Morrison404.80pc on August 15, 2017

The Turnbull Government has proposed to outsource critical positions in the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP), meaning lawyers engaged by private companies will be involved in criminal prosecutions including those of terrorists, people smugglers and paedophiles.

Under the plan an unknown number of Federal Prosecutors will be engaged through a contract arrangement, with administrative support staff also to be employed through similar third party arrangements.

Federal Prosecutors in the CDPP do critical work in pursuing evil crimes such as terrorism, child exploitation, human trafficking, money laundering and tax and welfare fraud.

The proposal won't save the CDPP money, if anything the opposite will be the case as the labour hire firm seeks to turn a profit; this proposal is just about meeting the Turnbull Government’s objective of cutting public sector staff. CDPP is being forced to reduce the number of staff it employs directly because of a cap on staffing levels imposed by the Government.

Outsourcing these roles would not only undermine the important work that Federal Prosecutors do but also damage the reputation of the CDPP as an independent prosecution service. Their work is too important to be outsourced to a private company.

By driving the CDPP to such extraordinary steps, the Turnbull Government is taking a pointless risk with the important work and the hard-earned reputation of the office. There is absolutely no good reason whatsoever why this work should not continue to be carried out by Commonwealth employees.